Journal of Policy Analysis & Management (JPAM)

2015 Big Data Workshop

Big Data and Public Policy Workshop

Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Miami, Florida

Thank you to our workshop sponsors:

About the Workshop

The new availability of data – administrative records, mobile devices, sensors, and many private sources – as well as new processing and analytical techniques, has the potential to transform the practice of science. In the social science context, the new data can potentially offer information for policy-makers that is much more current, granular and richer in environmental information than data produced by statistical agencies from surveys. Yet with the unfolding of new research opportunities, there are challenges associated with making use of the new data that are no longer generated and disseminated by statistical agencies, but can be harvested from many individual public, and some private, actions.

Examples of particular challenges for the policy community include:

Inadequate understanding of coverage, incentive and quality issues, together with the lack of a comparison group, can lead to incorrect policy advice. For example, overreliance on, say, Twitter data, in targeting resources after hurricanes might lead to the misallocation of resources towards young, internet savvy people with cell-phones and away from elderly or impoverished neighborhoods.

The lack of obvious data stewards who can be entrusted with preserving confidentiality, which can result in questions about the ethical use of new types of data. For example, since there are no clear rules or guidelines governing the appropriate use of the new types of data, Institutional Review Boards may hesitate to allow new types of research.

Nonetheless, important scholarly work has been done that uses big data in a way that is valuable to policy makers – in areas as varied as finance, labor, education, science, innovation, transportation and development. This JPAM workshop seeks to assess as well as showcase cutting edge empirical work in this vein.

Registration Information

Registration for this workshop is now open. The registration fee of $45 for Members and $65 for Nonmembers. You can register for the pre-conference workshop when you register for the Fall Conference, there is no separate registration process.Click here to register!

Is Public Grading Worth the Costs? An Evaluation of New York City’s Restaurant Grades Policy

Rachel Meltzer,The New School; Michah W. Rothbart, New York University; Amy Ellen Schwartz, New York University and Syracuse University; Thad Calabrese, New York University; Diana Silver, New York University; Tod Mijanovich, New York University; Meryle Weinstein, New York UniversityDownload the full paper here.

The Geography, Incidence, and Underreporting of Gun Violence: New Evidence using ShotSpotter Data

Bringing Big Data into Public Policy Research: Text Mining to Acquire Richer Data on Program Participants, Their Behavior and Services

Robert Goerge,Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago;Jonathan Ozik, Computation Institute, University of Chicago;Nicholas Collier, Computation Institute, University of ChicagoDownload the full paper here.

Coffee Break
4:00 pm - 4:15 pm

Plenary
4:15 pm - 5:00 pm
Monroe Ballroom

Keynote Speaker: Brett Goldstein,University of Chicago, Harris School of Public PolicyComments: Ron Jarmin, U.S. Census Bureau, Assistant Director, Research and Methodology Directorate

Keynote Speaker - Brett Goldstein

Brent Goldstein was appointed by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to be the first municipal Chief Data Officer in 2011. In this role, he led successful efforts to use data to improve the way city government serves its residents and established one of the largest open data programs in the country.

In 2012, Goldstein also assumed the role of Chief Information Officer for the City of Chicago, where he worked to accelerate Chicago’s growth as a global hub of innovation and technology, adopting modern technology to save taxpayer funds, creating a robust collaboration with Chicago’s developer community and integrating data analytics into everyday government operations. Goldstein began his career in the start-up sector, spending 7 years at OpenTable. Click here for Brett's full bio